Residents plan Komen 3-day walk

Pair to walk 60 miles for cancer awareness

Manistique residents Bailee Lawrence, left, and Shayna Morrison, are shown during a recent walk on the boardwalk. This weekend, the pair will head to Boston, Mass. to participate in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day, a 60 mile walking event to raise money for breast cancer research and awareness.
Courtesy photo MANISTIQUE – Walking 60 miles in three days is usually not anyone’s idea of a good weekend. For local residents Bailee Lawrence and Shayna Morrison, however, this is the perfect way to spend their time – and all for a good cause.

The Susan G. Komen 3-Day is a breast cancer fundraiser, taking place in various locations throughout the U.S. Each participant is expected for raise $2,300, walk 60 miles in three days, sleep in tents and use portable showers. All the money raised goes to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which then uses the funds for breast cancer research and public outreach programs, according to the organization’s website.

Lawrence, 20, and Morrison, 18, have a personal reason for embarking on such a strenuous fundraising event.

“Our grandma passed away in 2006, of breast cancer, and then our great-grandma is a survivor, and our great-aunt is a survivor, and my mom is a survivor,” Morrison said. “So that made us do this.”

The girls learned about the walk through an aunt, who had participated in a few of the past events. When they decided to take on the walk themselves, the girls approached their parents.

“We left it up to our parents to choose which one we would do, and they picked the very first one,” Lawrence said with a laugh.

The event, which takes place this weekend, July 27-29, in Boston, Mass., left the girls with little time to train and fundraise. Beginning in January, the girls used various venues to earn enough for their combined $4,600 walk entry.

“We have sold t-shirts, and we’ve done different things like set up at games, and we’ve had a volleyball tournament to raise money,” Lawrence said. “Our biggest fundraiser was our Facebook group, actually. People just wrote on the wall what size (t-shirt) they wanted and then we got it to them somehow.”

Using the team name, “Shirley’s Angels, the girls were able to come up with enough to fund their walk.

“Shirley was my grandma’s name, she always called her kids and the grandkids her ‘angels’, so that’s the organization out Aunt Shannon started,” Morrison said. “Now it provides outreach to other women who are diagnosed in the area.”

While “Angels” is its own organization, she emphasized that all funds raised are for the walk.

“The money we raised goes directly to Susan G. Komen, which is research, awareness and things like that,” Morrison said. “We’re walking as Shirley’s Angels – that’s our team name, but the money is not going to Shirley’s Angels.”

As far as training for the 60 mile trek, the girls answer apprehensively.

“We’ve been training as much as we can,” said Lawrence. “I work two jobs, so every day; I am usually working from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., then again from 6 – 11 p.m.”

Morrison also has a job, leaving the girls with little training time, but they are optimistic.

“They say if you can do two 10 miles back-to-back, then you’ll be fine,” she said. “And I’ve done that. We figure, we’re young.”

While both girls have traveled before, neither has participated in such an elaborate event.

“Friday, we have to register by 5:30 – 6 in the morning, and then they do the opening ceremony, and then we start walking 20 miles that day,” Morrison said. “Every night they bus in showers, and they have like a mile of pink tents and everyone sleeps in pink tents.

Then you wake up and do it all over again,” she added.

Despite their uncertainty surrounding the event, each girl is certain of the cause, and their devotion to it.

“We feel like at least one of us is destined to get it (breast cancer); like it’s inevitable,” Morrison said. “So that’s why we’re doing this.”

Being involved in events like the 3-Day, Shirley’s Angels, and other breast cancer awareness and fundraising, will most likely be a lifetime commitment, added Lawrence. Participation and action is one way both girls can, perhaps, avoid the “inevitable” in their future.

“Maybe, by the time we’re old enough to face this, there will be something, like a cure,” Lawrence said.

To help Lawrence and Morrison reach their goal, make a donation or join their team, Shirley’s Angels, by visiting www.the3day.org. To learn how to participate, visit the website or call 800-996-3DAY.